Any good kitchen designer will start by asking you why you want to remodel your kitchen in the first place. What doesn’t work in your existing kitchen and what are you after in the finished project? How do you use your kitchen? Do you like to cook? Are the meals you prepare generally simple or complex? Do you bake, too? Is there frequently more than one cook in the kitchen? Do you like to serve meals in the kitchen? For how many? Do you entertain frequently? What’s your entertaining style—formal or informal? Do you like to work alone in the kitchen or do you prefer to have helpers and kibbutzers. Is the kitchen table also a center for homework and bill-paying? Honest answers to these questions like these can help you devise a layout that comfortably accommodates the normal traffic within the kitchen and may prevent you from designing more of a kitchen than you really need.

Establishing Kitchen Work Centers

The classic approach to kitchen design is to define a number of different “centers” for the work and other activities that take place there: cook center; bake center; cleanup center; centers for storing refrigerated and non-refrigerated foods and beverages; centers for storing pots and pans, dishes, tableware and small appliances; centers for serving and eating; and often a center for cookbooks, reading and deskwork. Generally speaking, you want to plan to store things related to each activity near the table or counter surface you’ll need to do the work.

Then there’s the question of the size and shape of the available space. Can you fit all of the centers you need in the available space without inevitably causing traffic jams? Do you need to expand the space or simply change the shape? The answer may lie in arriving at a workable layout.

Kitchen Layouts
In kitchen design practice, there are six basic layouts. There many variants of each, especially when there’s enough space available to introduce an island work area.

One-wall  Kitchen Layout. For long, narrow spaces, major appliances, cabinets and counters are arranged in line along one wall.

Corridor Kitchen Layout. For spaces where there is enough room to arrange major appliances, cabinets and counters on opposing walls. In this layout it’s possible to establish a triangular traffic pattern among the range, sink and refrigerator to save steps.

L-shaped Kitchen Layout. Also for long, narrow spaces; major appliances, cabinets and counters are arranged along two walls at right angles, fostering a triangular traffic pattern among the range, sink and refrigerator.

Double-L Kitchen Layout. Often used in larger kitchens with a separate cooktop and oven, and especially where there’s a kitchen island. Double-L kitchens usually have a main sink and also a secondary sink. Two triangular traffic patterns are established: one from the refrigerator to the main sink to the range, and another among the refrigerator, secondary sink and wall oven.

U-shaped Kitchen Layout. For larger spaces, major appliances, cabinets and counters are arranged along three walls, establishing a step-saving triangular path among the refrigerator, sink and range.

G-shaped Kitchen Layout. Major appliances, cabinets and counters are arranged along four walls, with the classic triangle among the major centers.